Now is a good time to do a little spring cleaning of your business and decluttering so that you can head into spring with some renewed energy. These tips are going to help you spring clean a few areas of your business so you can start the new season with a clean, organized plate which contributes to your productivity.
why now? Because spring is a great time of the year to clear out the clutter in your business so that you can really align your business operations with your goals for the year. In the past few episodes I’ve really focused on the way your business is set-up and the way it operates. The beginning of the year is a great time to look at the big picture of your business as well as your mission and vision so that you can maximize the time you have and make some great things happen in your business.
Once you’ve identified the strategic moves you want to make to grow your business, you need to make sure your business operations can support that. The tips I’m going to share will help you do some sprucing up so that you end up with a clean, organized and efficient business. And you can get a lot accomplished in those mom cracks of time.
Do Some Device Cleanup
We spend our lives on our phones, tablets and computers. That being said, yours is probably a hot mess. Not to mention, you probably need to wipe it off. I won’t talk about all of the things you touch before touching your phone or all the places you take it. So just take a few minutes to clean your phone, earbuds, and any other phone accessories, your tablet and your laptop keyboard and mouse.
You also need to scroll through your camera roll and delete some photos and videos. All of us have things in there that are just taking up storage space. Now before you do this, make sure you are backing up your phone data on a regular basis so you don’t lose anything. My iPhone automatically backs up to the cloud and my photos and videos are set to automatically get backed up to Dropbox. That way I don’t have to worry about losing anything I delete to save space.
Next go through your apps and delete any you don’t use. If you haven’t opened an app in the past six months and you don’t see yourself doing so for another six months, delete it. If you have an iPhone you can enable the ‘Offload Unused Apps’ setting which automatically removes apps you haven’t used for some time. The great thing about this setting is the apps aren’t actually permanently deleted from your phone. Your data and documents remain on your device and you can re-download the app whenever you want to. Also, if you don’t want your phone to automatically delete certain apps (even if you don’t use them a lot), you can set the offload function for certain ones. And whatever apps you’re keeping should be organized into folders. This will make it easier for you to locate them which saves you time.
Cleanup Your Inbox
Chances are your inbox is cluttered and out of control! One of the biggest culprits is probably the number of newsletters you’re subscribed to. So get started by unsubscribing to those unread newsletters. Think about setting up an email just for downloads, seminars, online courses, etc. I did this and it has been a game changer!
I also have rules and folders set-up which automatically sorts my emails by subject or sender as they come in. This saves me a ton of time. But this only works because of the file structure that I have. So you may need to establish one for yourself so that you can set up some automation to do the sorting for you as well. Check out this blog post for a few Gmail hacks you may want to try.
Now I’m not going to leave you hanging because I’ve actually shared a lot of the details about this on the podcast before. There is actually a three part series I did called the Productive Home Business Series. I cover organizing your business, your digital and paper files and so much more. Links to all three episodes are below.
The Productive Home Business Series, Part 1 – How to Organize Your Documents
The Productive Home Business Series, Part 2 – How to Tame Your Inbox and Take Control of Your Time
The Productive Home Business Series, Part 3 – How to Run a More Efficient Business
Speaking of paper files…
De-Clutter Your Office Space
Whether you have a designated home office or a corner in your home where you work, there are probably a few piles of paper you need to tackle. Now is a good time to through them and get them organized. Keep what you really need, shred and recycle the rest that you don’t need. Get rid of old appointment books; throw out old sticky notes and that outdated to do list. Try switching to digital tools to schedule your appointments and organize your notes. Use an electronic calendar like Google Calendar or iCal that will give you reminders. Try using an app like Trello to organize those notes and random thoughts that generate ideas for your business.
In this blog post I actually share three ways you can organize your business using Trello. You can organize your digital links, your business contacts and even your business leads. Be sure to go back and listen to that episode for the details.
Refresh Your Website
When was the last time you really looked at your digital presence? Make sure your website has been backed up and set a schedule to do so regularly and make sure all of your plug-ins are updated. Also think about giving your website a fresh look by changing the colors, and updating your images. Switch things around to give your customers a fresh experience. And make sure you check your links. Do they all work or has something changed and you have broken links. If the direction of your business has evolved over the past year or so, this may be a good time to consider updating your wording or even rebranding your company to make sure it accurately represents you online.
Refresh Your Social Media Accounts
When was the last time you made changes to your social media profiles? Now is a great time to update these as well! Add a current photo of yourself, make sure your link in your Instagram bio works. Add new projects to your LinkedIn profile, add publications or other relevant achievements.
You should also review who you follow online if you haven’t done this in a while. Social media has a big influence on our thinking. So there may be some accounts that no longer align with your business or your values. Or you may simply be in a different phase of your business and have simply outgrown some accounts. It’s ok to unfollow them especially if you aren’t interacting with them. I’ve made it a habit to do this type of cleaning once a quarter. That has helped keep the people in my feed that I want to see and interact with.
Now if you’re wondering why you should even think about doing any of this. Simply put, it will help you just feel so much better as the new season arrives. Spring flowers are about to start blooming, everyone is about to start planting their flowers, the trees are going to be turning green soon…everything around us is going to be beautiful very soon. Your environment is a reflection of your mental state. So when you look around and your office is clean, your screen is smudge free and you can find the app, the email or the document you’re looking for quickly…you will be motivated and more productive.
So block out some time to get the cleaning done in 10-15 minute increments at least two days a week or more if you can. You will be amazed at how much you can get done in those mom cracks of time.
So I want to thank you for tuning in this week. I am excited that spring is right around the corner. I’m looking forward to taking longer walks outside and sipping my coffee in one of my happy places. If you follow me on Instagram you will get to see them on a regular basis. If not, let’s connect! I’m @the_shannonbaker and I look forward to connecting with you. DM me and tell what you like about spring. I would love to hear from you!
